Natasha stares numbly at the window. She's barely touched her face since that moment, makeup stuck in the corners of her eyes.

Banner's presence is comforting even if she can't acknowledge it. He's tended to the injuries she's permitted him to see; 4 stitches to the calf and one on her forehead.

They are sitting quietly on the steps of the jet having already changed out of their blood stained clothes. His head is pressed against the wall, his fingers clasped around his knee. Her slumped shoulders and vague expression are hard to read.

Bruce contorts his mouth after over two hours of silence. Between returning to the jet and getting her stitched up, changed, Natasha still hasn't said a word.

Even though her face is a ghostly pale shade of white and her words are dry, they mean something to him when she finally speaks;

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."

Natasha looks up with a forced curve of one side of her mouth, content to continue staring outside of the window. And he has no intention of moving from her side.

Letting Bruce see her this way is one thing but the team feels much more complicated. She feels weak now that she's already cried over two people she shouldn't have.

She lets her eyes fall onto Banner's when he mumbles above a whisper, "What do you need?"

Natasha looks toward the ground, tapping the toes of her boots together, "To move on. I'm stronger than this."

His eyes never move from off of her, "No one questions your strength, Natasha."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive." He uses his sleeve to brush a bit of mascara from her cheek with her silent nodding consent.

Clint's arrival with Jennifer and the rest of the team pulls Natasha's focus from off of talking with Banner and back onto her mission.

Steve talks first, "We have to discuss the children now that they're all on board."

Maria cringes over her wrapped ankle and awkwardly settles on the steps beside Romanoff, "They need homes with families who understand them."

Clint lifts a knee and camps near Bruce to better face Natasha, "Yeah, I don't think sending them to unsuspecting foster families is going to end well."

Tony laughs under his breath, hands in his pockets, "Public school would be a bitch; Riley will start reading minds and pummeling her 8th grade bully into the ground."

Rhodes scoffs with a knowing shrug.

"I talked with SHIELD's legal department, and we have an idea. To be fully transparent we've all talked this over on the walk over to you guys,' Jennifer interrupts, 'I think SHIELD should house them."

"Are you insane," Bruce protests.

"Just hear me out; imagine a shelter where empowered kids can learn to be the best versions of themselves. And then imagine if any parent who applied to adopt, went in knowing the costs. Knowing, exactly, what they were getting into before the adoption process even began."

"That sounds dangerous."

"Why."

"You know why,' Bruce looks toward Thor for backup in arguing with his cousin, 'If Loki drops by looking like a typical American dad, goes through the process and gets, gets, what's her name, the bomb."

"Linda?" Clint offers.

"Linda! Loki takes off, goes back to Asgard with Linda and the world explodes."

Thor lifts his eyebrows, "I have considered that possibility but even for Loki, that involves excessive deliberation."

"Jen, you know where I'm coming from."

"I think," Natasha lifts a shoulder and the room goes quiet, "Giving them a safe, second chance is worth a try. Working with them to control their powers give them a choice."

"They could end up in the wrong hands, that's all I'm saying. I don't trust SHIELD- no offense, with the amount of work that would go into questioning these potential parents, you would need to know exactly what to ask. The background checks are just a piece of that," the physicist strokes his cheek, his knee bouncing.

Jen smiles, "You'd be good at it because you'd know exactly what to look for and what to avoid."

He stammers, "I'm not volunteering."

"I volunteered for you. I think you're perfect for the job."

"I'm sorry?" Bruce tilts and shifts in his seat.

Jennifer sits back, casually crossing her knees and tugging at her dark forest green pants, "You and Natasha; if SHIELD opened a center for gifted children I think that the two of you running it would be the best option."

"I don't know about that. I'm an angry stress case, we all know this."

Steve nods calmly with a grin, "We'd help. You wouldn't be doing this alone."

Tony raises his hand, "Obviously I'd fund everything. From housing, to a state of the art training facility."

Barton mumbles, afraid to admit his stance as if it hinders his masculinity, "We care about those kids just as much as you do."

Jane smiles and waves her finger between herself and Thor, "And we can't run things with twins coming but we'd pop in when we can."

Natasha turns to look at Maria who glares back, "Don't look at me. I don't do the kid thing."

Bruce shifts uncomfortably, "I just, wasn't looking for another job? That's a lot of kids."

Tony waves his hand dramatically, "There are about 20... Izabella has Svetlana so you and Red only need to find homes for nineteen of them. One kid per month, means a year and seven months of your time. I'm stuck with Antonia for a minimum of eighteen. Don't ask me for sympathy."

Natasha clarifies, "Nineteen kids with powers. And one's a bomb."

"Eighteen,' Clint interrupts, 'Garrett doesn't have any powers."

"If we build the facility close enough to the tower, Pepper and I can help," Tony offers.

"I might know a good family for Timothy," Rhodes chimes in.

Natasha folds her arms, "I'm in."

And maybe it was the air, the stress, or her getting ahead of herself but she sits proudly over her decision. She tilts her head, addressing her husband and his hesitation;

"I want to. I think we could do some good by those kids. I think having us, all of us, as mentors would help them to be the best versions of themselves."

Bruce scoffs tiredly, "It's a lot."

"I want to,' Natasha repeats and looks up at him, trying to whisper, 'we can find them the best homes."

He looks her over, suddenly more concerned, "Natasha I love you. But this year…"

"I want to move on. With you," she reassures, trying hard to convince the logical thinker beside her that it's not just an immediate emotional response.

In her eyes is everything she doesn't say; It's the closest they're going to get to raising their own. Even adoption doesn't seem like an option anymore given the unpredictability of the year.

He waits in the impending silence, watching intently for a twitch in her eye or her shoulder- for some sort of signal to tell him that she's putting on a false front.

All he sees is a genuine desire in her wide hazel green eyes to help a bunch of children she feels for.

Bruce nods, "Alright. But I want to screen every SHIELD agent that applies to work at the facility."

Jen snickers, "Fury thought you might say that. You can hand pick them if that's what you want."

"And Hulk is banned from the center."

Natasha hugs her knees, "What is Svetlana's plan? Does she have a security team?"

Clint nods and points to Stark, "Yeah, this guy."

Tony elaborates dramatically, "I offered to have them come back to New York with us. Pepper found them a high end three bedroom apartment not far from the tower; which is perfect considering the fact that you can have Izabella training along with the other kids."

"They want to move?" Natasha questions.

"Are you really that surprised? Izabella worships the ground you two walk on,' Clint narrows his focus and points to Bruce, 'Him especially. She'd follow him off a cliff."

Thor squints curiously, "An odd form of reverence Birdman…To follow someone off of a cliff."

"I ain't saying it's not weird."

Bruce over analyzes the remark and tugs off his glasses as he turns over his shoulder. He can't restrain himself over a grammatical correction, "Clint, it's a double negative-."

"You're doing it again."

"I-...okay."

Natasha smiles to greet their young guest as Izabella moves forward toward the couple, "Speaking of the devil."

" Preevet Natasha,' she settles in between them, a space they've made just for her, 'Vrach . I want know, everything. About other worlds."

Clint groans, "If y'all are gonna nerd, I'm out."

Jane takes a seat, "I'm equally curious! What was it like?"

"It was,' Bruce makes eye contact with Natasha who seems just as interested and now isn't the time to bring up Betty's twin, 'Uneventful."

"Okay but the concept of time and space, were we right?"

"Mostly."

Stark taps his shoulder, "So you wanna tell the team what happened to the big bad?"

"...Blonsky? Not really," Bruce tugs his neck, "The memory is fuzzy-he's not coming back."

Tony contorts his mouth, judging his friend's deflective tone when it comes to discussing his disappearance.

Maria interrupts, "Speaking of coming back; that community seems to be ready to meet their friends. Izzy, when you're done socializing it's back to the lab with you."

Natasha laughs through her frustration, wanting time with her young friend, "She can have a minute."

Maria nods, "It doesn't look like there are too many people left. And at least one doesn't want to come back apparently so cross off Lebedev."

"Huh," Bruce slips thoughtfully.

Natasha turns her head back, "Did you say something."

He shakes his head.

Izabella pivots to alternate between her mentors with a thought, "I will live in New York!"

Natasha smiles back, "We won't have to video chat to hang out anymore."

The girl laughs, " Vrach Banner help me with homework more now."

Natasha nods, "Obviously."

"Thanks for asking," Bruce mumbles.

"You're outnumbered bro, that's how it works,' Tony raises his volume, 'Wait a minute! Izabella! He's back for one day and I don't matter anymore?! Why wouldn't you ask me for homework help?"

Izabella leans forward with the intention of somehow making it better, "Because Vrach smarter."

"Excuse you!" Tony gasps.

Clint cringes, "…don't do it Izabella. He doesn't need any encouragement, trust me."

Bruce lifts a hidden palm up for Izabella to clap in a low-five. The energy zaps both of their palms mid slap.

"Ow," Bruce scoffs.

Izabella giggles, shaking out her fingers.

"What was that?" Jen asks.

"Radiation," Jane and Bruce answer in unison.

Jennifer lifts her own hand, "I want to try it! Smack me! I mean my hand…"

Romanoff enters Fury's office hours into the trip back to New York. She traces her finger over the frames of various family photos. He's completely consenting to her touching, browsing, and snooping through anything within the office.

She touches the chair, a not so distant memory of trailing through Ivan's;

"Petrovich had a figurine in his...room."

Nick keeps his head low as he works, "Nothing is being touched without your approval."

She sighs, her mouth twisting uncomfortably, "If you see the green one…"

"Is it for a mission?"

"It's personal."

Fury swivels his chair around to face her. Natasha pulls up the one across from his desk, comfortable enough to let her guard down while she sucks at her cheeks.

"I want my next assignment," she folds her hands over her lap.

Nick narrows his focus, "Are you avoiding?"

"Yes," she admits.

"Your assignment is caring for and training eighteen problematic tweens. Finding them homes."

"I also want a field mission."

"Even though you're a natural leader? You're a good Assistant Director."

"I don't think I want to make the calls. That's Steve's job as a team. And Maria has a handle on the logistics side. I know you feel differently, so, let me use my leadership skills on the kids,' she swivels the chair a foot to the right. 'But I just want to be a spy for SHIELD. It's what I'm good at. It's a comfort zone I'm not ready to leave."

Fury lifts his eye, "That means Hill gets the promotion. She won't give it up if you change your mind."

"I believe in her,' Natasha returns his proud expression, 'I just want to be an Avenger, a spy you can count on no matter what. I want to focus on being the best mentor I can be for those kids. I know I don't have the bandwidth to lead both the kids and SHIELD….So I'm choosing the kids."

He waits in the silence, fingers against his lips when he questions her, "Is that enough for you?"

She looks down at her fingers, genuine in her reply, "It is."

Fury doesn't need to smile for her to feel heard. There is an unspoken mutual understanding between them.

Ivan was never a true father figure; it's Fury. And she knows it's always been Fury. A steady mentor that stands beside her no matter the decision she makes. The elder figure who pulls her back home when she feels lost.

The corner of her mouth curves upward despite her pain, recalling his words…

'You know what unconditional love looks like.'

Natasha has lost a lot this winter. And though 'I'll be fine,' is her typical response to heartache, she's starting to finally believe it. There's a hole in her heart that won't be filled but the support from her friends, from this family she has because of Fury, leaves her feeling like enough.

He shares a smile and swiftly returns to his work, "I'll have a mission for you by Wednesday."

Natasha brushes her hair back, "Perfect."

" Next Wednesday."

"Great."

"As long as you're cleared by the medical team."

"I will be."

"My team. Banner's signature on your medical records will get you postponed another week."

She rolls her eyes playfully and stands for the door. His rules mean nothing when they both know Natasha will do what she wants and get away with it.